Apart from featuring a 120Hz refresh rate display, the iPhones of 2020 or the iPhone 12 series is expected to come with LiDAR scanning technology, which will make iPhones better at understanding your surroundings, thereby making augmented reality apps more realistic.
The LiDAR (abbreviated for Light Detection and Ranging) scanning technology is used to determine distance by measuring how long it takes light to reach an object and reflect back. It can measure the distance to objects up to 5 meters away and works both indoors and outdoors. It operates at the photon level at nano-second speeds. The LiDAR technology is so advanced that NASA is using it for the next Mars landing mission.
When combining data taken from the LiDAR scanner, cameras, and motion sensors, the iPhone 12 will be quicker and more accurate in measuring the distance to objects in your vicinity. Apple says that the LiDAR scanner also improves the Measure app, making it faster and easier to automatically calculate someone’s height, while helpful vertical and edge guides automatically appear to let users more measure objects quickly and accurately.
Since the launch of ARKit in 2017, Apple has offered a lot of AR tools for app developers, but the addition of the advanced LiDAR scanner indicates that Apple wants to go big in terms of AR by helping developers optimise apps for existing iOS hardware.
According to the famous analyst Ming Chu Kuo, Apple could launch three iPhones – an iPhone 12 Pro Max with a 6.7-inch screen and an iPhone 12 Pro with a 5.45-inch screen. The high-end 6.7-inch iPhone model is expected to come with sensor-shift image stabilisation, which would move the image sensor like a gimbal inside the camera to compensate for the shakes.
